This is a question that constantly bugs me...
The Government is currently putting so much emphasis on people losing weight and eating healthy foods, yet no one seems to care that being seriously underweight is no good for you either.
There is quite a fine line between healthy eating and not eating enough and putting so much emphasis on one over the other can only be a bad thing.
Being overweight can cause heart problems amongst other problems, but being underweight can lead to the shutting down of your bodily organs or other problems too. Yet nobody seems quite so bothered about this - why?
Nowadays, I see a lot of teenage girls obsessed with being super skinny to be like pop stars, TV stars, models and other celebrities and it is just not healthy.
My younger sister (who is now 17) is a fine example - she was overweight and now she has lost a lot of weight. She is now at a healthy weight and is maintaining it, but for a while she was barely eating anything because she still imagined she was overweight. I'm glad she came to her senses before it got any more out of control. I'm proud of her that she is maintaining her health, but not going over the top - but how many teenagers/children are there out there who don't know when to stop?
My son is eight and he's a perfectly acceptable weight. But if he was overweight, I would go out of my way to help him get healthy and if he was really underweight, I would also not stop until I knew he was healthy.
I'm just sick of all the bullshit about adults and children being overweight, yet no-one gives a damn if adults or children are underweight.
My son often comes home from school and I feel he has been brainwashed about healthy eating. He states crisps are bad for him - which as anyone with half a brain cell knows, there are far worse things you can eat. As a snack in moderation, they are fine, as part of a healthy balanced diet. But they brainwash him so that he questions all of the food he eats - even though we have large amount of vegetables in our diet. And yes, we do occasionally have chips or pizza or something fried, but there's nothing wrong with that, yet the children seem to be terrified of all foods except fruit and veg. Now there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with that!
I don't mind the Government campaigning to make people healthy, but putting the emphasis solely on being overweight is not right at all. Children should be made aware equally of the problems that can occur from under-eating. Oh, and teachers should be better trained than to scare the living daylights out of children and make them afraid to eat lots of things.
Yvonne is a 30-year-old mum of a 10-year-old boy & wife of an eccentric husband. She enjoys comping, gardening, blogging, writing, music, days out, photography & sci-fi.
Blogs at: My Random Blurb
Twitter: @MyRandomBlurb